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Var. cyclosorum, R u p r e c h t : — Froncis very large, often five feet
high, and eighteen to twenty inches broad ; the secondary pinnæ or
pinnules often nearly an inch and a half long, oblong-lanceolate, pinnately
incised, or nearly again pinnate ; sori short, roundish ; indusium
very short.— Dist. Crypt. Vase., p. 4 1 ; also var. Sitchense of the same
author.— E a t o n , Ferns of the South-West, p. 3 3 1 .—Athyrium F ilix -
foemina, var. cyclosorum, MooRE, Index, p. 183.
Other forms, as var. laciniatum (M o o r e ; D a v en po r t , Catal. p. 2 4 )
with small fronds and laciniated segments, and var. cristahim (W o l la s ton)
with multifid apices of frond and pinnæ, are sometimes found,
but, though they may be permanent in cultivation, they are to be considered
aberrant monstrosities rather than varieties.
H a b .— Moist shady woods and hillsides, sometimes in sunny places
as along roadsides and under walls, common in most parts of the
United States and British America, and extending nearly throughout
the North Temperate Zone. Var. latifolium and var. cyclosorum are more
common on the Pacific coast, but are not unknown in the Eastern
States and in Europe.
D e s c r i p t i o n ;— The root-stock is creeping or oblique,
rarely' erect, and is covered with the adherent and blackened
bases of old stalks, the whole mass being nearly an inch thick
in large plants, and several inches long.
The fronds stand in a crown, and the stalks of the standing
fronds are clustered at the apex of the root-stock. At
first the stalks and the young fronds are covered with blackish
fuscous or sometimes lighter colored ovate-acuminate scales,
but most of these soon wear off, a few only remaining at
the base of the stalk. The stalks contain two strap-like
fibro-vascular bundles, which unite into one U-shaped bundle
below the base of the frond. In living plants the stalks arc
oftenest green, but very frequently the color is a beautiful
brownish pink, or almost red. This color is not peculiar to
any one variety, and is found oftenest iri plants growing in
the shade.
The fronds vary in length from four or five inches to
nearly as many feet, from narrowly lanceolate to broadly ovate
in outline, and from pinnate with pinnatifid pinnæ to nearly
quadripinnate in composition. The texture is rather thinly
herbaceous, and they do not endure the frosts of autumn.
Very generally the lower pairs of pinnæ are shorter than the
middle ones, sometimes very much shorter, so that the frond
tapers from the middle to a very narrow base. The frond
itself and the primary pinnæ are acuminate, and in the most
highly developed form the pinnules are pointed. The pinnules
are always serrated, if not incised, the teeth usually acute,
and often slightly incurved.
The veins are pinnately arranged; the veinlets simple or
forked. The indusia are normally confined to the upper side
of the fertile veinlets ; they often cross the veinlet and continue
some little distance down the lower side, thus becoming horse-
shoe-shaped or hippocrepiform. Frequently they are but
slightly recurved, and commonly all the forms of the indusium
may be found on one frond. The indusium is very tender,
and usually laciniately fringed. The spores are bean-shaped,
yellowish and smooth.
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